iPad mini and Samsung Galaxy S4 deemed most fragile gadgets

A study involving drop tests onto concrete and water dunks has discovered the top ten most fragile gadgets currently available to buy.

The research carried out by insurance firm SquareTrade Europe included looking at the design and construction of the devices, as well as their weight, grip and water resistance.

“We are all investing in more and more technology, so when we do we want to make sure that we are going to get our money’s worth”, said Kevin Gillan, MD of SquareTrade Europe. “By putting devices through tests that replicate real life situations, we want to help people make smart choices when it comes to choosing gadgets and ensure they are covered against accidental damage.”

All the test results and phone specs were put together to form SquareTrade’s “breakability score”, where higher numbers indicated a more fragile device.

Unfortunately for Apple, four iOS products made it into the top ten. The iPad mini and Samsung Galaxy S4 were shown to be the most breakable out of the lot though.

Google and Samsung make up the rest of the list outside Apple products, with three products each in the top ten.

Samsung actually did the worst as the S4 took second place and the Samsung Galaxy S3 was in fourth place.

At least Google and Apple learnt some lessons with design generations, as the iPad Air was deemed less fragile that the iPad mini, iPhone 5C more fragile than the iPhone 5S and the Google Nexus 7 2 less breakable than its predecessor.